1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to systems and methods for sharing a fleet of vehicles among a plurality of users and, in preferred embodiments, to such systems and methods for sharing a fleet of electric vehicles, including systems and methods relating to allocating, tracking, securing, managing and relocating of shared vehicles and, in yet further preferred embodiments, to systems and methods relating to allocating, tracking, securing, managing, relocating and charging of shared electric vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most modern, industrial countries, private automobiles play an important and sometimes indispensable role as a means for transporting people within and beyond local areas, for example, to and from places of work, study or worship, on errand trips or in commercial activities, such as deliveries, sales visits, repair visits or the like. As a result of these important roles, the number of automobiles in and around most industrialized cities and neighboring regions continues to grow. The increasing numbers of automobiles results in higher occurrences of traffic jams and higher demands for parking spaces.
Mass transit systems, such as busses, commuter trains, subways, streetcars or the like can fulfill some of the transportation needs of those communities and municipalities that have such systems. However, travel with such systems is confined to pre-set stop locations and times, set by the route and time schedule of the bus, train, subway or streetcar. The prescribed routes and time schedules typically do not meet many travelers"" needs or are too inconvenient for practical usage of the mass transportation system by some travelers. For many mass transportation users, the pre-set stop location is far enough from their origination or destination locations that they must find additional modes of transportation to or from the pre-set stop. For example, some users drive private vehicles to and from pre-set stop locations and park the vehicles near the stop locations. Some mass transportation systems even provide vehicle parking facilities near pre-set stop locations for such users.
For example, commuter train stops and bus stops in and near some cites are often provided with parking lots for train users to park private vehicles. However, vehicles in such parking lots typically remain parked throughout a large part of the day, and are driven only in the morning to bring the user to the train or bus stop and in the evening to take from the train or bus stop. Thus, while modern mass transportation systems can result in a reduced number of vehicles on the road at any given time, such mass transportation systems do not eliminate the need for private vehicles and can result in an inefficient use of private vehicles.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for the efficient and convenient use of private vehicles, such as an efficient and convenient shared vehicle system and method. Shared vehicle systems can provide more flexibility than other means of public transportation. In a shared vehicle system, a number of vehicles are. normally maintained in several designated parking areas. Each user is allowed to pick up a vehicle at one parking area, and return the vehicle to the parking area nearest to the user""s destination. The user may also drive a vehicle out of a designated parking area for an errand and return the vehicle to the same designated parking area. Shared vehicle systems that are used by a relatively large number of subscribers should include sufficient security measures to protect the vehicles from theft and also to protect the user from crime.
Shared vehicle systems must be sufficiently convenient to motivate users to employ the system. Accordingly, vehicle availability within a reasonable time of a user""s request for a vehicle is very important to the success of such a system. Of course, by maintaining a greater number of vehicles in the fleet of shared vehicles, the availability of a vehicle at any given time can be increased. However, system cost is minimized and vehicle-usage efficiency is maximized with smaller vehicle fleets. Accordingly, there is a need for a shared vehicle system that maximizes user convenience yet minimizes the number of vehicles required in the fleet.
In particular, by employing vehicles in a shared vehicle system or method, additional ecological advantages can be achieved. Vehicles in a shared system may be of many types. They may be the conventional petroleum based gasoline or diesel fuel type vehicles. They may however be cleaner forms of propulsion such as methanol or propane powered vehicles, or may be vehicles powered by hydrogen stored as a gas or metal hydride. Electric vehicles may draw energy from batteries, fuel cells, generators driven by internal combustion engines, or combinations of different energy sources. Electric vehicles powered by both lead acid and nickel metal hydride batteries have shown much promise and several manufacturers have produced viable electric vehicles employing these battery technologies. Electric vehicles are a good candidate for a shared vehicle, because they are among the cleanest and quietest forms of vehicle, but sharing systems and methods are in no way dependent on the use of an electric vehicle, and may be employed with a number of non electrical or hybrid technologies, including common gasoline power.
The use of electric powered vehicles in a fleet of shared vehicles, however, presents further complexities over other alternate power vehicles, for example, associated with vehicle charging requirements and vehicle unavailability during charging times.
Electric vehicles typically require charging more often than the conventional vehicles require refueling. Recharging stations are not nearly as available as conventional petroleum motor fuels. Moreover, recharging of an electric vehicle typically takes much more time than refueling a conventional vehicle. Thus, if a conventional vehicle is present at a designated parking area of a shared vehicle system, but does not have sufficient fuel to meet a user""s travel needs, the vehicle can be quickly refueled and made available to the user. However, even when an electric vehicle is idle in a designated parking space, it is not available to a user unless it has a sufficient existing state of charge (SOC) to make the user""s intended trip. Typically, an electric vehicle cannot be re-charged quickly enough to make the intended trip if its existing SOC is inadequate. On the other hand, if the user intends to make a short trip, the vehicle may be capable of making the intended trip even though it is not fully charged. Accordingly, there is a further need for a system and method for managing shared electric vehicles in an optimum fashion and to meet the needs of a maximum number of users with a minimum number of vehicles.
Therefore, preferred embodiments of the present invention relate to shared vehicle systems and methods that maximize user convenience and minimize the number of vehicles required in the shared fleet.
A shared vehicle system according to one preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a central facility, at least one vehicle distribution port facility and a plurality or fleet of vehicles, each having a vehicle subsystem. In general, the central station and port facility and the vehicle subsystems communicate in a manner to allow a user to enter information at a port facility. That information is then communicated to the central facility, where the information is processed to select a vehicle from the fleet for allocation to the user at the port facility. The central station communicates with the port facility and the vehicle subsystem, according to various embodiments described below, to notify the user of the selected vehicle, to provide secure user access to the selected vehicle, to monitor the location and operating status of vehicles in the fleet, to monitor the state of charge of electric vehicles and to provide other functions described below.
According to one aspect of the invention, allocation of shared vehicles to users is based, at least in part, on travel information received from the users. By allocating vehicles based on travel information the efficient usage of vehicles and user convenience can be optimized, for example, to maximize vehicle availability and minimize vehicle downtime. While various embodiments related to this aspect of the invention may employ any form of shared vehicle, according to further embodiments of the present invention, vehicle sharing systems and methods employing electric vehicles in the shared fleet and the allocation of electric vehicles to users is managed to maximize vehicle availability and minimize vehicle downtime, taking into account the state of charge of a vehicle and/or the charging rate of a vehicle.
According to another aspect of the invention, a shared vehicle system or method provides controlled or secured access to and/or enablement of the shared vehicles. In preferred embodiments, user identification information is provided to a vehicle that has been allocated to a user and such information must match information entered by the user in a user interface device installed on the vehicle, before the user is allowed access to the vehicle. In yet further preferred embodiments, a user""s personal identification number PIN must be entered by the user in a second interface device installed on the vehicle and must match an expected PIN, before the vehicle is enabled for operation.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a shared vehicle system and method involves allocating vehicles from a group of available vehicles and returning vehicles to the group upon detection of a parking state while the vehicle is located at a port. A port is a vehicle staging area where vehicles may be parked prior to being allocated to a user. A typical port contains a user kiosk containing a computer terminal for interacting with the shared vehicle system. Throught this disclosure the term xe2x80x9ckioskxe2x80x9d will be used to mean a kiosk with a user terminal. The terms kiosk and terminal shall be used interchangeably herein. In preferred embodiments, the detection of a parking state is accomplished by, for example, the detection of the setting of the vehicle in a parking gear, the lack of motion of a vehicle for a period of time, the opening and/or closing of a vehicle door, or a combination of such events, each of which require no user interaction other than the typical actions taken to park a vehicle.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a shared vehicle system and method involves protecting access and enabling vehicles from a remote location relative to the vehicles, for example, in the event that a user loses an identification code or PIN.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a shared vehicle system and method involves tracking stored energy and/or other operational parameters of vehicles in the shared fleet. In preferred embodiments, vehicle parameters, such as stored energy, are tracked and processed for purposes of efficient selection and allocation of vehicles to users or selection of vehicles for charging.
According to yet another aspect of the invention is that, if electrical vehicles are employed within a shared vehicle system, the electrical vehicles are allocated to users based on the state of charge (SOC) of the vehicles, in addition to vehicle location, user travel information and statistical analysis of vehicle usage. According to a further advantage of preferred embodiments, vehicles are allocated from a defined vehicle search group (VSG) of a port facility. A vehicle search group is defined as the set of vehicles that may be allocated to a user. A vehicle search group is determined by deciding what time period is acceptable as a vehicle search depth time, that is how long a predefined wait is acceptable before a vehicle becomes available. The vehicle search group then is ascertained by determining which vehicles will be available at the end of the predefined waiting period. Vehicles within the vehicle search group of a port facility include vehicles that are due to arrive at the port facility within the predefined period of time or electric vehicles that are due to become sufficiently charged at the port facility within a predefined period of time, minus the vehicles within the port that have been allocated for departing trips or are scheduled for transport to another port facility.
In one preferred embodiment that includes electrical vehicles within the shared vehicle group, a user is allocated a vehicle having the highest SOC within a vehicle search group of vehicles having sufficient SOC to meet a user""s needs. In another preferred embodiment, a user is allocated a vehicle having the second highest (or Nth highest) SOC within a vehicle search group of vehicles having sufficient SOC to meet the user""s needs, such that the highest (or Nxe2x88x921 highest) SOC vehicles may be reserved for users having travel needs which requiring a higher SOCs. In yet another preferred embodiment, the system or method has the ability to allocate the highest or Nth highest SOC vehicle, depending upon other criteria, such as the time of day or day of the week. Thus, for a certain time period of the day and/or day of the week (for example, between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. on Monday through Friday) the system or method may allocate the highest SOC vehicle in the vehicle search group is allocated to a user, while at other times of the day and/or days of the week, the Nth highest SOC vehicle is allocated to a user.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, a shared vehicle system and method involves transporting or relocating vehicles from one area or port having a surplus of vehicles to another area or port having a shortage of vehicles. Vehicles may also be transported to effectively use storage space for the parking of the vehicles. According to yet a further aspect of the present invention, a shared vehicle system and method involves a vehicle carrier for carrying a first vehicle with a second vehicle, for example, for relocating the first and/or second vehicle.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention, will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which preferred embodiments of the present invention are shown by way of illustrative example.